


Sometimes, surprisingly, actions have consequences.

by Sakilya



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 19:56:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20441627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sakilya/pseuds/Sakilya
Summary: In a way, leaving the figurine worked out just as she had wanted it to*





	Sometimes, surprisingly, actions have consequences.

The tavern is full of joy. A bard is playing and some people are dancing close to the fireplace, their forms creating shifting shadows on the wall, and Jester can’t enjoy any of it. She’s on her third glass of milk, kicking her legs under the table where she’s sitting and wondering for the fifth time if she should send another message to Nott and see how the meeting is going. Also to see if Nott kept her promise and managed to hide a figurine of the traveler in the temple of Bahamut, since Jester herself wasn’t allowed in.

Stupid guard. Stupid guard that recognized her face, and just had to make a fieldtrip from the temple in Zadash to this one. At least he hadn’t realized why he had recognized her, just that something was wrong, and it had tipped them off enough that they decided that she could stay back for this one. Doesn’t mean she needs to be happy about it. 

The door to the tavern slams open and Jester, along with some other patrons of the bar, looks towards the woman who is standing in the doorway. For a moment she just stays there, not moving, her chest heaving as if she had been chased all the way to the threshold. In a strange way, Jester is reminded of Caleb. Not the Caleb like he is now, with his fancy xhorhasian clothes, but the Caleb who barely bothered to brush his shabby hair out of his face to be able to see. Her clothes looks old and beaten, a bunch of mishmatched pieces more than what looks like a proper outfit.

“Close the damn door! You’ll let the cold in!” Someone in the back yells, and the woman’s head snaps up towards the voice.

There’s something in that movement that strikes Jester as odd. It’s too quick, twitchy, and she’s wondering for a moment if the woman would give herself a whiplash just by doing that. Just as quickly, and she can almost feel her own neck snap just by seeing her move, the woman’s gaze latches onto hers. A couple of patrons, one of the dancing couples, exclaims in anger as she pushes by them to end up right in front of Jester.

“You.” She says, both hands on the table in front her, and her face is a mix of emotions. Jester sees elation flutter by, but her eyes are too intense for it to be just happiness. Too focused. The expression that “he only had eyes for her in a room full of people” strikes her, a sentence from a book she and Beau read recently, but while the mood in the book was meant as romantic, there’s nothing of that sort here. Instead goosebumps are gathering up her arms, like the warmth of the people and the fireplace doesn’t quite reach her anymore.

“Me?” She says, greeting with a nervous smile while her hand starts the incantation for dimension door just in case. The woman exhales, and wow, yeah, that smell sure also reminds her of Caleb when they first met.

Without breaking eye-contact the woman fetches something from her bag and Jester jumps with the force she slams it down on the table. The spell fizzles out as she sees a figurine of The Traveler, one of hers. Jester actually never thought one of them would find their way back to her after she hid them, but this woman must have found it somewhere! 

Jester likes to make her figurines unique. The one that she had given to Nott earlier that day had dragon wings curling around the edges, just to match the theme of the temple where it would be hidden. This one had small unicorn hamsters flying around the form of The Traveler and it gives Jester pause because she’s struck with the memory of the one time where she didn’t get to choose which figurine to leave. 

If they hadn’t been in such a hurry to escape from certain death, she remembered thinking she would have liked to leave the figurine detailed with small snowflakes. That had been her one regret.

Jester looks up again, this time slowly and when her breath comes out in shallow puffs she can see it form as the temperature in the air around them drops. Gelidon is grinning at her through the imperfect human form that she is wearing, elation and fury in one intense stare, and Jester matches her with a cringe.

“Balls.”

**Author's Note:**

> *it sure made an impression
> 
> I pretty much never posts drabbles, but this stuck in my head. I am so glad that Jester left the figurine, not only because how it might return in the game on day, but because honestly: POWER MOVE.


End file.
